I recently had to do a big sweep of my craft room and put away all the assorted in progress projects. I was getting this mounting stress week on week of feeling I wasn’t accomplishing enough and having X and Y that must be finished before I dusted off and started up Z again, and Z must be done before this specific event and I realized this was all coming from me. There is no external expectation of my sewing productivity.
I have a huge pile up of projects I want to do and am very excited about and a huge pile of WIPs/UFOs and my brain managed to whip me into a frenzy with life or death, fight or flight adrenaline levels of anxiety. Silly brain.
I cleaned up. I put away everything, even emptied my design wall. I found 13 different projects around the house in some state of progress. I made a list of all my current ideas not started, and updated the list of UFO/WIPs with a few discoveries. I pulled out the one project that I am very motivated to get a move on towards finishing that’s languished too long (years) and is a gift.
I’m on a weeklong break as I focus on some other priorities (work, garden, prepping for vacation) and go on vacation for a week after that and I hope when I come back my brain will have reset a bit a remembered this isn’t my job, I’m not being graded, this is my hobby and it’s fun.